Wednesday’s ad is for Lowenbrau, from 1900, when everybody used artwork of a pretty gal to sell beer. I think it worked, Lowenbrau is still making beer.
Beer In Ads #602: The Only True Pilsner
Tuesday’s ad is also for Pilsner Urquell, which was run in France, based on the language. The ad copy, “La seule véritable bière importée de pilsen” translates as “The only true pilsner beer imported from” Pilsen. I love the excited look on the two gentlemen as they examine the bottle.
Beer In Ads #601: Sexy Pilsner Urquell
Monday’s ad is for Pilsner Urquell, from what looks like the 1940s or 50s. I certainly don’t recall Pilsner Urquell using that “P” logo with the barrel and gate symbol. But I love the classy pin-up art.
Beer In Ads #600: We’re With You All The Way
Friday’s ad is also for Hamm’s, showing their support for the local baseball team, the Minnesota Twins in 1961. It actually looks like the ad may have been on the back of a game program. Either way, the “Win! Twins! We’re with you all the way” rah-rah sentiment” was undoubtedly designed to foster brand loyalty.
Beer In Ads #599: For Those With A Flair For Good Living
Thursday’s ad is also for Budweiser, this one from just after Prohibition ended in 1933. Expressing the celebratory mood that prohibition was finally over, but that “Something More Than Beer Is Back,” hopefully not meaning just polo. No, what they’re trying to get across is that with beer’s return, it was now “For those with a Flair for Good Living.” But I guess that means people who play polo. Hmm.
Beer In Ads #598: Fireplace Popcorn & Budweiser
Wednesday’s ad is for Budweiser, from around the 1950s, part of their long-running “There’s nothing like it … absolutely nothing” campaign. The setting for this one is a couple making popcorn in their fireplace, fully dressed. I love the man’s smiling-with-a-pipe expression.
Beer In Ads #597: Hot Dogs & No Harsh Bitterness
Tuesday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1954. This one is also football-themed, with a man at the game, being poured two beers from cans to wash down the hot dogs, already in his hands, as his significant other waits with the blanket and a pennant in the background.
Beer In Ads #596: First Down. Five To Go
Monday’s ad is for Falstaff cans from, given the pull tabs on the cans, the mid-to-late 1960s. I assume this was a football play on words. It’s a simple, clean ad, almost unusual for that time. I also like the tagline at the bottom of the ad. “Beer after beer, the choicest product of the brewers’ art. Everywhere.”
Beer In Ads #595: George Petty’s Beer Ad Paintings
Friday’s ad is the end of this week’s theme of Acme Beer and illustrator George Petty. These two works of art were most likely used in beer advertising, though exactly when and for which brewery is a mystery. Petty did a number of ads for Acme Beer, so that seems like the best guess, but I really can’t be sure. Still, they’re great, stylized paintings with beer.
Here’s the first one, in which a man and woman clink their beer glasses together in a toast.
And the second, also showing a finely dressed couple at night.
Beer In Ads #594: Acme Non-Fattening
Thursday’s ad is still another one for Acme Beer, this one from their 1930s “Dietetically Non-Fattening” campaign, and this one was also done by famed pin-up artist George Petty. I’ve featured a painting of this ad before, but I recently found how it was used in an actual ad. I love the qualification on its status as a diet drink, which is that it’s “relatively so, compared with other foods.”
